PTSD

IEDs are an interesting tool of war: they have accounted for nearly half of the U.S. KIAs in recent years, and their very simplicity is an erect middle finger to U.S. military might and technological prowess. The Pentagon’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization has just issued its Counter-Improvised Explosive Device …

Jeff Hackett died in the war. He was a career Marine, a mustang who rose through the enlisted ranks to become a gunnery sergeant, then through the officer ranks to become a major. In Iraq, Jeff led a highly specialized unit of …

PTSD is another kind of explosive often brought to you by the U.S. military, especially after a decade of war by the same troops over and over again. No, the Army didn’t break due to those rigors like many thought it would, but some individual troops were not so lucky. Diagnosing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder isn’t as easy as …

Tuesday marks the final day in uniform for General Pete Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff. As the service’s No.2 officer, he has been the key driver on fighting to reduce the mental toll of the nation’s wars on its …

I wrote recently about the press reporting on veteran-committed crimes as a trend of veteran/psychopaths returned from the war. CNN and the Christian Science Monitor were guilty last week. Now it’s USA Today’s turn. According to the bonehead editor who came up with this sensationalist headline, returned veterans are ticking …

Ever since Battleland raised this issue with then-top-Army doc Lieut. General Peter Schoomaker four years ago, there’s been a whirring debate over changing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to Post-Traumatic Stress, or some other less-stigmatizing label. The logic is pretty simple: in the nooks and crannies of our brains where bad …

The tragic news last week that ranger Margaret Anderson was shot and killed in Mount Rainier National Park by Benjamin Colton Barnes brought with it national attention and a litany of sensational headlines. (What came first, …

Battleland’s own Ron Capps has just been tapped to create a writing program to help troops wrestling with post-traumatic stress. The program will be part of the research and therapy at the National Intrepid Center of …

So of all the elements that can cushion a soldier’s return to civilian life from Afghanistan and Iraq, what’s the most important? Well, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center, it’s a soldier’s faith, or …

Wednesday is the final day in office for the Army’s surgeon general, Lieutenant General Eric Schoomaker. He became the Army’s top doctor four years ago this month. He got the slot after helping improve conditions at the (now …